* Admissibility date reflects the date the case was officially registered. All other dates pertain to the date in which a stage was completed.
Case Description
Complaint
The complaint concerns the project “SE Safety Improvement” which covers the investment programme for equipment and system modifications, replacements and reconstruction works on the operating units of two nuclear power plants in Slovakia. The allegations include the violation of the EIB’s policies and standards regarding the EIA of projects with significant environmental impacts, i.e. the lack of EIA for long-term operation of the above mentioned plants, breach of international law regarding transparency and public participation by the Slovak Republic and incorrect presentation of the project on the EIB’s project page.
EIB-CM Action
As part of its initial assessment, the EIB-CM dismissed the allegation concerning the breach of international law regarding transparency by Slovakia as inadmissible, given that the EIB-CM focuses on maladministration by the EIB in the context of the activities it finances.
The scope of the inquiry of the EIB-CM was therefore focused on the two remaining allegations. The compliance review assessed the complainant’s allegations in the context of potential EIB maladministration, including whether the Bank complied with the applicable regulatory framework.
The EIB-CM carried out a compliance review of the above allegations and presented its findings in the conclusions report available below. While the EIB-CM was finalising its compliance review, the EIB decided to cancel the operation at stake due to the expiration of the disbursement deadline. Therefore, the EIB-CM considered the first allegation to be affected by the withdrawal of EIB’s financial assistance to the contested Project. As regards the second allegation, the EIB-CM found it ungrounded, given that the information published by the EIB adequately corresponded to the EIB due diligence.
The EIB-CM issued suggestions for improvement addressed to the EIB concerning (i) the due diligence of complex projects with multiple components and (ii) the information on the project published in the EIB’s website.